Disney Testing Paid Parking at Walt Disney World Resort Hotels

[s8film40]

And for dvc members who only own at deluxe resorts, this could cost me $700+ per year if the charging were to be added at $20 per day given my time spent staying on property each year. That's enough to make me reconsider my ownership as its a dues increase by stealth - of close to 50% hike...

Of course if they did this and then gave DVC members free parking that could be viewed as a huge perk. It would kind of surprise me to see Disney give DVC members something free though as they seem to be taking things away more than giving them, you never know though.

 

[Biff215]

And for dvc members who only own at deluxe resorts, this could cost me $700+ per year if the charging were to be added at $20 per day given my time spent staying on property each year. That's enough to make me reconsider my ownership as its a dues increase by stealth - of close to 50% hike...

Agreed completely. On average we spend 12 nights a year using our DVC. At $20/night, that would almost be as much as my dues. We always fly, so fortunately I could avoid it by not renting a car, but that takes away a convenience we currently enjoy.

We're getting ready to add on points, but we will sit back and wait until this all plays out.

 

[jaklgreen]

And for dvc members who only own at deluxe resorts, this could cost me $700+ per year if the charging were to be added at $20 per day given my time spent staying on property each year. That's enough to make me reconsider my ownership as its a dues increase by stealth - of close to 50% hike...

I don't think Disney will charge people to park at the resort they are staying at. But if you are driving over to the Contemporary (and not staying there) to park for the whole day for the "convenience" and spending the whole day at MK, then you should probably pay for that. So you will still be getting free parking at the Hotel you are staying at but not the others. Why is that so unreasonable? How many businesses(especially in bigger cities) allow someone to just park their car in the parking lot all day for free? Most places would tow you. The parking spots need to be there for the guests actually staying at that resort. You are looking at it from 1 perspective: you are DVC and you pay so much money that you should be allowed the run of the place. But how mad would you be if you came back to your resort and there was no parking available because a bunch of people wanted the run of the place. You would scream foul and say that you are DVC and you should have a parking space available. I don't think this is a "cash grab" for Disney. I think their is a problem they are trying to fix. I am kind of surprised they have not had an extra charge for parking, so many other hotels do.

 

[Imagineerwannabe]

I could see the drive towards charging on site guests if there was a problem with onsite guests parking availability, but the issue seems to be offsite guests using car parks to park all day for free and filling the resort parking lots up whilst not paying a penny.

Simple answer is charge anyone who is trying to avoid the parking fee and make the charge higher than the regular theme park parking lots to discourage this practise and hence free up the spaces for genuine onsite guests . The same way that valet is $25 over $20 for the theme parks to discourage using it over the theme park lots.

Think we are being quick to speculate that charging for resort car parks must mean that there is going to be an erosion of free parking perks for onsite guests...

 

[Imagineerwannabe]

I don't think Disney will charge people to park at the resort they are staying at. But if you are driving over to the Contemporary (and not staying there) to park for the whole day for the "convenience" and spending the whole day at MK, then you should probably pay for that. So you will still be getting free parking at the Hotel you are staying at but not the others. Why is that so unreasonable? How many businesses(especially in bigger cities) allow someone to just park their car in the parking lot all day for free? Most places would tow you. The parking spots need to be there for the guests actually staying at that resort. You are looking at it from 1 perspective: you are DVC and you pay so much money that you should be allowed the run of the place. But how mad would you be if you came back to your resort and there was no parking available because a bunch of people wanted the run of the place. You would scream foul and say that you are DVC and you should have a parking space available. I don't think this is a "cash grab" for Disney. I think their is a problem they are trying to fix. I am kind of surprised they have not had an extra charge for parking, so many other hotels do.

No I never said anything about not paying to park at other resorts if I wasn't staying there...I certainly don't Lord it around as if I have the run of the place.
my point was about being charged for the privilege at the resort im staying at in the same way that as you say other hotels do - universals on site hotels do charge at their resorts. This I would object to.

 

[s8film40]

Think we are being quick to speculate that charging for resort car parks must mean that there is going to be an erosion of free parking perks for onsite guests...

It's not exactly wild speculation to think Disney could do what is considered an extremely normal practice in the hotel business once they have a mechanism in place to actually do it. Especially considering Disney themselves already do it at other properties.

The reality is in the hotel industry the viewpoint is if your the type of person that thinks $20 a day for parking is an issue then you shouldn't be staying in a 4 diamond/star hotel in the first place. Personally I think Disney deluxe hotels are a kind of separate category of their own, but I know from my experience that Disney doesn't exactly view it that way.

Also out of curiosity does anyone know if Disney offers an exemption to paid self parking at the Disneyland hotels or any of their other DVC properties?

 

[Andrew C]

Is this disney hotel paid parking test story all bull? Because I have not seen anything here that suggest this actually occurred in the way everyone is freaking out about.

 

[Imagineerwannabe]

Having stayed there in 2015 Dvc members do not pay for parking at the grand Californian. As long as you are staying in the villas on points

 

[s8film40]

Is this hotel Disney paid parking test story all bull? Because I have not seen anything here that suggest this actually occurred in the way everyone is freaking out about.

There hasn't been any confirmation at all of this test. If it had happened surely someone would have said something. The absolute most I think we could take from this is that there could possibly be discussion going on about doing a test.

We are indeed a long way from any kind of confirmation of anything like this happening.

 

[s8film40]

Having stayed there in 2015 Dvc members do not pay for parking at the grand Californian.

Interesting, so if they carried that over to WDW it could help create a selling point and additional perk for DVC. Could help keep members who are thinking of selling and increase sales potentially.

 

[Biff215]

And then what happens when I want to visit the TOTWL? I then have to pay parking to go there? Then we end up with that place empty because no one wants to pay to park there....And if they don't make you pay, then how do you stop people from parking and heading to the park under a 'visit the TOTWL' guise?

Which is the same query I had with this apparent testing that they are not charging those who have ADRs...what if you have a breakfast reservation, what's stopping you from still continuing to the parks after?
What if you want a walk-up for dining?
What if you are offsite and don't have tickets or magic bands, you don't need either to make a dining reservation...how would they prove you had didn't have a reservation?

This whole thing seems to be so complex to try and manage these different variables and implement charging. Surely it needs to be understood the reason why they wanted to charge.

Is Disney trying to make revenue from everyone for the parking by charging people to use car parks everywhere, or are they trying to make sure that they mop up and charge people who are trying to get away with free parking by making it prohibitively expensive to park anywhere but the main theme park lot? But leaving no changes for anyone who is an onsite guest...

I'm pretty sure they say that guests from other resorts have to use Disney transport to get to the TOTWL, as that would cause major parking issues over there if every DVC member drove.

 

[s8film40]

I'm pretty sure they say that guests from other resorts have to use Disney transport to get to the TOTWL, as that would cause major parking issues over there if every DVC member drove.

Typically if you have a parking permit on your dash regardless of the resort security is very lenient about letting you in, unless the resort really truly is at capacity or has a special event.

 

[unkadug]

Why is this thread already at 11 pages?

 

[Biff215]

I don't think Disney will charge people to park at the resort they are staying at. But if you are driving over to the Contemporary (and not staying there) to park for the whole day for the "convenience" and spending the whole day at MK, then you should probably pay for that. So you will still be getting free parking at the Hotel you are staying at but not the others. Why is that so unreasonable? How many businesses(especially in bigger cities) allow someone to just park their car in the parking lot all day for free? Most places would tow you. The parking spots need to be there for the guests actually staying at that resort. You are looking at it from 1 perspective: you are DVC and you pay so much money that you should be allowed the run of the place. But how mad would you be if you came back to your resort and there was no parking available because a bunch of people wanted the run of the place. You would scream foul and say that you are DVC and you should have a parking space available. I don't think this is a "cash grab" for Disney. I think their is a problem they are trying to fix. I am kind of surprised they have not had an extra charge for parking, so many other hotels do.

I don't think anyone said anything about paying so much money and being "allowed the run of the place" as DVC members. Anyone, cash or DVC, shouldn't have to pay parking at their own resort IMO. Having to pay to visit another resort isn't the end of the world, especially since free transportation is available.

I know some DVC members may come across the wrong way, but please keep in mind most of us don't expect anything beyond what comes with our membership (which for me is primarily the ability to stay at deluxe resorts for more nights a year than I could afford paying cash).

 

[Goofyernmost]

Agree 100%. Handicapped parking permits are abused everywhere. I don't have any handicapped friends or family but it ****es me off to see everywhere. Disney lots definitely have the worst abuse. Whenever I am anywhere and see people parking in a handicapped spot and then nobody in the car has any issues walking, I will make loud comments to whoever I'm walking with and make sure the abusers can hear what I'm saying.

For people that aren't in a wheelchair, is it really that big of a deal to park in a handicapped spot at a Disney lot? The distance from the spot to the tram is the same as in the regular parking. Walking from handicapped parking to the park entrance is farther than walking from a regular spot to the tram stop and then the tram stop to the entrance. I don't understand WHY people abuse this at Disney.

I personally always walk from my spot to the entrance no matter how far I am because I can't stand waiting for the safety spiel to play 15 times because some idiot keeps boarding after the final boarding call. If you are lazy (which is the only reason for a non-disabled person to want to park in the handicapped area), you aren't going to walk to the entrance anyway.

It is especially true at MK. The HP parking is further away then the trams are from parking and you have to negotiate that hill at the underpass. Hardly, an easy climb walking or pushing a wheelchair if you are older. Besides, I like riding the trams.

 

[Biff215]

Typically if you have a parking permit on your dash regardless of the resort security is very lenient about letting you in, unless the resort really truly is at capacity or has a special event.

That's nice, but you can't count on it, especially since there are no more paper parking passes. DVC also explicitly states the rules for TOTWL access on the member site:

Parking & Transportation

Parking is only available to those staying at Bay Lake Tower or Disney's Contemporary Resort. Members traveling from other Resorts must use Walt Disney World Transportation.

 

[unkadug]

MOST people visiting WDW do not have personal automobiles with them so they do not have to worry about parking. Those of us that do not fly-in bring our personal vehicles and Disney must provide us a place to store these items.

This costs them money and we should have to burden the cost of this luxury. Most hotels do charge for daily parking and Disney should do the same.

 

[s8film40]

That's nice, but you can't count on it, especially since there are no more paper parking passes.

I haven't heard of them getting rid of the paper parking passes. Is this true?

 

[Imagineerwannabe]

That's nice, but you can't count on it, especially since there are no more paper parking passes. DVC also explicitly states the rules for TOTWL access on the member site:

Parking & Transportation

Parking is only available to those staying at Bay Lake Tower or Disney's Contemporary Resort. Members traveling from other Resorts must use Walt Disney World Transportation.

I think the reality is though that if they started expecting guests to come via Disney transportation, the TOTWL would see a decline in its revenue. The convenience of being able to park at bay lake tower to go there means I will do, but the concept of having to take a resort bus from another resort to a park and then changing to a contemporary bus means I'm far less likely to go if the travel time takes so long...

 

[DManRightHere]

Can people park at DS and do the same thing?